[Politics]

The Pendulum Swings Back.

Finally. After thinking for years that the national mood would follow past patterns and begin swinging away from the jackboot right, I had begun to worry lately that voters might be permanently brain-damaged, masochistic toadies for the GOP. Appears it's not so. From ABC, yesterday:

Fifty-four percent of registered voters in this ABC News/Washington Post poll prefer the Democrats in their districts, 41 percent the Republicans. This is the highest level of Democratic preference we've seen in ABC/Post surveys this close to Election Day since 1984....

The Democratic lead comes mainly from the center, which simply is not holding for the Republicans: Independents, the quintessential swing voters, favor Democrats for the House by 28 percentage points, 59-31 percent.

The WaPo echoes these findings (it's the same poll):

The independent voters surveyed said they plan to support Democratic candidates over Republicans by roughly 2-to-1 (59 percent to 31 percent), the largest margin in any Post-ABC News poll this year.

Indies are breaking left, and lefties are breaking Dem. Bush, incidentally, is tracking south again, and headed back toward his six-year low. He's now at 37% (60% disapprove) according to the ABC/WaPo, his third-lowest showing, and in spitting distance of the 32% they measured back in June.